William and the Night Train by Mij Kelly

In my Block A class, we are talking about helping kids read more deeply into books. One way to help students get the most out of their literature is encouraging them to ask questions about the book. This book would be a good choice for scaffolding this process. I caught myself wondering, is there really a night train? Does William really think he is getting on a train? Or is he just asleep in his bed? Is this a one-time trip on the night train, or does William ride it every night? All of these questions would be fun to explore with children. It would be interesting to see if they read into the story literally or symbolically. What does the night train mean to them?

The story is a fun one for kids. The text rhymes, lightly dancing off the tongue. The tale follows William, who boards the night train amidst "zookeepers, shopkeepers, writers and fighters" and "babies in bundles" all searching for sleep. William, though, is wide awake. He wants to explore the train, crawling over the sleeping passengers, looking forward to tomorrow. Not only is the message fun, but the text itself is fun. The font varies in size and swirls around the page in the shape of the smoke emitting from the train's smokestack.

Just as the story was enchanting, so too were the illustrations. Though it is a story about nighttime and "sleepyheads," every page is filled with bright blues, yellows, and greens. Toward the end of the book, the illustrations start including fluffy white sheep. The first time through the book I did not realize their importance. Looking back, though, I know they arrive when William starts to finally feel the weight of sleep behind his eyes. Of course, sheep are traditionally counted by people to help put them asleep. They work even for wide awake William.

The Lemonade Club by Patricia Polacco

I would consider this book the literary equivalent of a slap in the face. The story itself is not so much of a slap - it is a childrens story about friendship and hope. So how can that possibly be a bad thing? Let me count the ways...

As I was reading this book, I found myself rolling my eyes. Right away, I became annoyed. The girls' fifth grade? (I might have made that up) teacher holds up lemons to her classroom every day before the bell rings for dismissal. "What do we do when life gives us lemons? We turn them into something sugary and sweet; lemonade!" she cheers. I am sorry, but if one of my teachers repeated this cliche, overly cheese-ified line every day, I might lose my mind. And perhaps this is the cynic in me coming out. Maybe I simply was unable to revert back to my fifth grade self while reading this book. Maybe if I were a fifth grader reading it, I would wonder why my teacher did not encourage us in this way. At this point, I just couldn't handle it.

There were two things that were even more upsetting to me about this book. One was Marilyn's (one of the young students) distress about her weight. As I was reading, I thought to myself, do kids this young worry about being five pounds heavier than their best friend? Because Marilyn looked no bigger than her friend in the illustrations. Is this really an issue suitable for students in fifth grade? A few extra pounds?

What was most disheartening to me about the book, though, was the relationship the two girls had with their teacher. The teacher talked to the girls about her fiance and personal life in a way that I thought crossed the line. When I was reading this book I was scribbling furiously in my notebook in response to this relationship. "Unprofessional!" I wrote. "The student/teacher relationship lines have been blurred!" "The teacher is in no position to share that kind of personal information with her students!" As a future teacher, it is very important to me that teachers have a close, trusting, and open relationship with their students. However, it is the teacher's responsibility to keep some sort of professional distance. Unfortunately, I think the professional boundaries were overstepped in this story.

You're probably still wondering how this could be considered a slap in the face. I wrote "unrealistic" in my notebook five times while reading this book, mostly in response to the student/teacher relationship. When I turned the last page of the book, though, guess what I found. A picture of the three real-life characters - two students and a teacher about whom this story was based. Whoops. I guess it is possible; obviously, it has to be, since this story happened. It just didn't come off as real to me.

It really was a story with good intentions. Unfortunately, I just was not able to believe it. This one probably will not appear in my classroom library.

If You Give a Cat a Cupcake by Laura Numeroff

Yes, I have chosen an "if you give a girl a gimmick" book, as my teacher would say. I can't help it - I'm in love. This book is the cutest thing in the whole world. Something about cats, my favorite animal in the whole world, and cupcakes (with sprinkles), my favorite food in the whole world, is completely irresistible to me. Come on. On the first page, the cat is flying in the air holding a cupcake in his tiny right paw - just complete elation. That cat is the happiest cat I have ever seen. It's great.

The first time I ever read this book was in front of two classes of completely hyper Kindergartners. I was there as an Iowa cheerleader and our mascot, Herky, was sitting criss cross applesauce on the carpet, poking fun at kids while I read. It could have been complete chaos. Anytime there is a giant, black and gold bird in the room adorned in football pads and jersey, there is the potential for stampedes, screaming, running, band-aids, pandemonium. I was lucky. Apparently I had chosen a good book. With thirty-some pairs of eyes upon me, (a few were still understandably hooked on Herky) I dove into the book.

The Kindergarteners and I followed a silly cat on his wandering dreams of cupcakes and swimtrunks on the beach, to kung-fu kitty and back all in the name of sprinkles and cupcakes. The story really reminded me a lot of the Stinky Face book I have already blogged about. Both are about imaginations running wild, one thing leading to another as the main character slides down a slippery slope of adventures until, finally, he makes his way back to home base. When I read the ending, "And chances are, if you give him some sprinkles..." I paused as I turned the last page. The kids all yelled "He'll want a cupcake to go with them!" before I could even open my mouth. Great story and audience participation all in one. Yep. I was in love.

Tacky the Penguin by Helen Lester

Naturally my eye would be drawn to a book about a penguin named Tacky who wears a Hawaiian shirt. I was honestly laughing out loud during this book. Tacky's comparison to his penguin companions, appropriately named Goodly, Lovely, Angel, Neatly, and Perfect is hilarious; they are polar opposites. The other penguins are shown gracefully diving into the ocean; Tacky, wearing a floaty tube, orange swim trunks, and a pink swim cap, is described as doing "splashy cannonballs."

"Splashy cannonballs" is an example of what I really liked about this book: the descriptive, action-packed language. The hunters approach with "maps and traps and rocks and locks, and they were rough and tough" and they "thump...thump...thump"-ed their way toward the penguins, "penguins" at one point spelled with five n's. This kind of text would be something really interactive for kids to read. It is a text that is easy to animate vocally. When I read it, I can hear how I would read it aloud to students, switching from deep timbres for the "thumps" to the nasally, tacky voice Tacky uses to chant, "What's happenin!" I cannot wait to sit down with a child and read this text aloud.

What is awesome about Tacky, too, is that he saves the day not because he is the coolest penguin in the pack. He saves the day because he has enough strength of character to behave in the way truly depicts himself. Tacky the Penguin gives value to the outliers in the classroom, the kids who march a beat of their own. It shows that these students are special in their own ways. They can be confident in who they truly are. Tacky was, and his differences become a cause for celebration. Differences are okay. In fact, they are the basis of this nation. Hurray for Tacky.

little blue and little yellow by Leo Lionni

I think I have mentioned once (or probably, numerous times) that I would really like to teach Kindergarten. I love little kids and the curriculum for that age. One of my favorite things ever to talk to kids about is color. It is such a tangible thing for children. They can see the difference between reds and blues and greens. They know that the sky is blue... but then ask them if it is always blue and they discover that it can morph into greys and purples, blacks and pinks. And every kid has a favorite color. It's hard to strike out with little kids when you're dealing with color. It's usually always a winner.

This book was definitely a winner for me. Looking at the cover, I expected a watered down depiction of how two colors, in this case blue and yellow, can combine to create new colors, green here. I was so excited that the book went way beyond factual descriptions. The first page introduces the reader to little blue, a little blue circle. He lives at home with his parents, and he loves playing with his best friend, little yellow. The personification of the colors is so clever. They literally become alive, little blue and little yellow forming green when their colors melt together in the midst of a hug. This story kind of sneaks in the factual information behind the facade of a story about friends. It is a great "head fake" book. The kids would read this book because it is an enjoyable story, but they are digesting factual information at the same time.

One thing that I thought was really cute but overlooked was the character naming. "Little blue" and "little yellow" were so incredibly simple. I realized today that they are perfect names for Kindergarten to first grade aged children. I was volunteering today and two little girls, one in Kindergarten, the other in first grade, wanted me to play haunted house with them. I was going to be a ghost, the Kindergartner a vampire, the first grader a werewolf. When asked what our names would be, the Kindergartner replied, "Little ghost, little vampire, and little werewolf." Perfect. The names were such a small detail in the book, yet they were entirely suitable for the age range. Text-to-life connection? Check.

Ugly Fish by Kara LaReau & Scott Magoon

I feel like most childrens' books always present things as being pretty - it is rare to find a picture book with something "ugly" as the main focus. Of course, I think Ugly Fish is really cute, but that's beside the point. "Ugly" caught my eye right away. And once I saw the picture of Ugly Fish, I was hooked. (Ha, no pun intended.) I brought the book home to read with my roommate who loves loves loves fish. He kind of resembles Ugly Fish in a way, too. :) I digress.

I knew this was going to be a good book for me right away. The dedication reads, "For all the ugly fish swimming around out there- you know who you are." Already smiling, I proceeded to open the book. I love love loved this book. The pictures were simple and funny. The text was simple and funny. There's nothing more perfect for kindergartners.


Ugly Fish is a book to have fun with. Even the text formating is fun and interactive for kids. It swirls around the page, following Ugly Fish as he chases Kissy Fish, mouth open wide, eyes focused on his delicious snack. The words are repetitive, making it easy for kids to follow and giving them a pattern to enhance beginning reading.

I think I hit the jackpot with this book. At the very least, it was perfect for my roommate. We really enjoyed reading about Ugly Fish. It is a fresh approach to dealing with bullying set in a context of humor and sooooo cute fish.

The Man Who Walked Between the Towers by Mordicai Gerstein

The illustrations in this book were amazing. I have never seen so many shades of blue in my life. They transform the story, taking us from daylight to the tones of midnight blues and back again into the light blues of morning. It would be fun to go through them and name them fun crayon names with kids. The illustrations are also intriguing because they come from many different perspectives. We see the peoples' views from the ground, looking up hundreds of stories to see a man dancing in the middle of the air, framed by the moonlight. We also see what the man would see, looking down from the tallest of buildings with no net to save him, only the traffic below. Illustrations such as these show us the freedom the man describes feeling when he is in the air; we see that there are literally no boundaries. He is alone in the air, touching nothing but the thin rope between his feet. He has become a bird and we, as readers, have as well.

When I read this book, I was thinking about my trip to New York City. I must have been in fifth or sixth grade at the time. My family went over to Ellis Island and my aunt pointed out the towers when we were on the ferry. "They're called the Twin Towers," I remember Aunt Linda telling me. "But if you look closely, you can tell they're not actually the same size. One is taller than the other." I remembered thinking those two buildings were pretty spectacular. This book definitely had an emotional connection for me. It brought me back to that summer and the innocence with which I had looked at the towers. I would have never in my wildest dreams thought about those towers falling to the ground one day. This book is written from a voice of the same innocence. There is admiration not only for the incredible act performed between the two structures, but for the memory of the buildings themselves.

This book is elegant and adventurous. It was surprising and intriguing. I was amused when the judge sentenced the tightrope walker to performing his talent in the park. It made light of a potentially heavy situation. The book, like the blues meticulously painted throughout, was wistful and delicate and exciting. I loved it.